Jack E. Smith – 3/4/09

This page was last updated on March 7, 2009.

Impose high tariffs to help the jobless; Jack E. Smith; Beaver County Times; March 4, 2009.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“Hershey’s chocolate company is moving its operations to Mexico.”

[RWC] I’m beginning to think there’s an e-mail note or some other communication going around the lefty community. Though the story is old news, this is the second letter to the editor about it in less than one week.

“So what else is new? Greed has finally taken over another company, and more people are out of work.”

[RWC] Every time someone doesn’t like another’s economic decision, out comes the word “greed.” When employees change employers for more compensation, how much do you want to bet Mr. Smith would not call that greed?

“The company moved to take advantage of cheap labor, but its products won’t sell any cheaper in this country.”

[RWC] So it would be OK if the move resulted in lower prices in the U.S.?

“It has no regard for its employees in this country who made it millions of dollars for many years. The company is taking food out of their mouths and putting it in Mexican mouths.”

[RWC] “It has no regard for its employees in this country who made it millions of dollars for many years.” I guess Mr. Smith forgot Hershey also made “millions of dollars for many years” for employees via compensation. It’s not like the employees donated their work. Don’t get me wrong; I’d prefer to see the jobs stay in the U.S. My point is simply that the Hershey/employee relationship is not a one-way street, as Mr. Smith appears to believe.

It sounds like Mr. Smith has something against Mexicans.

“Why doesn’t our government put a high tariff on the products coming into this country and use it to pay benefits to the unemployed that companies like Hershey’s have created?”

[RWC] We have yet another person apparently unfamiliar with the history of the Great Depression. Mr. Smith appears to be unfamiliar with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. This protectionist act (sponsored by Republicans, sadly) imposed high import tariffs and resulted in a trade war that killed U.S. exports. A chunk of the blame for turning a “run of the mill” recession into the Great Depression belongs to Smoot-Hawley.

As of this writing, there were 16 comments posted for this letter on the Times website. Though the comments were on both sides of the issue, not one mentioned Smoot-Hawley. This is sad.

Mr. Smith is also apparently unaware of the existing protectionist tariffs on sugar imports. Depending on how all the related tariffs work in combination, it’s possible the move of some operations to Mexico is at least partially to compensate for the existing sugar tariffs. All actions have ripples, but too many folks don’t seem to get it.